


The 5 Lives of Obi-Wan Kenobi

by yujacheong



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: 5 Things, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, M/M, The Force Ships It, Time Loop, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-15 19:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17534447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujacheong/pseuds/yujacheong
Summary: The Force grants Obi-Wan five chances to get things right.In his third life, they become lovers.He waits until Anakin has been knighted, of course, but after that? Glorious, just glorious, and the trials and tribulations of the battlefield only serve to bring them closer.





	The 5 Lives of Obi-Wan Kenobi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [outruntheavalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/gifts).



In the nanosecond before Darth Vader’s lightsaber strikes him down, he remembers:

 _He has been here before_.

Oh, he doesn’t mean “here,” not exactly. It’s been different each time. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is the fourth life that Obi-Wan Kenobi has lived and that he has not, by his own estimation, lived it as well as he ought to have done.

As his body dissolves and his life energies spiral free to rejoin the Force, he knows:

_One more time. He has been given one more lifetime to get it right – and next time, he will not fail._

 

*

 

In his first life – the very first life he remembers having lived – he takes Anakin’s dreams seriously.

The histories are filled with Jedi possessed of the gift of prophecy, and although such fabled beings are no longer known to exist in this day and age, Obi-Wan figures that, if anyone is dreaming prophetic dreams, it would naturally be the Chosen One. So, while Obi-Wan is assigned to protect the Senator from Naboo, Anakin makes an unauthorized journey to Tatooine.

He arrives there in good time. He saves his mother from the Sand People.

Fate is not so kind to Obi-Wan in this instance: alone, he fails to prevent the assassination of Padmé Amidala, and the Republic is thrown into open war.

And it is a war which Obi-Wan is left to fight without Anakin, for Anakin has decided to stay on Tatooine and protect his mother and her new family – _Anakin’s_ new family – from harm. He quits the Jedi Order before his Padawan braid has been cut, and he is engaged to marry within the year.

The Jedi fight, and they lose. The Empire rises; the galaxy falls into darkness; Obi-Wan, Yoda, and a handful of surviving Jedi go into hiding, waiting for the seeds of rebellion to sprout.

Anakin survives the war and goes into the moisture-farming business with Owen Lars, but Obi-Wan never sees him again, and the effective loss of the man he loves makes life in exile unbearable. He does not survive to see the Rebellion in full flower.

 

*

 

In his second life, Obi-Wan becomes the secret Sith apprentice.

After the tragic loss of Qui-Gon on Naboo and Obi-Wan’s victory over Darth Maul, it’s easy enough to convince Darth Sidious that he has become disillusioned with the Jedi Order, that he is a new apprentice ripe to be picked from the Jedi tree and turned to the dark side of the Force.

That he’d learned in his previous life that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is actually Darth Sidious helps Obi-Wan make the initial approach.

The approach works. Ten years later, it is Obi-Wan who prosecutes both sides of the Clone Wars, as Jedi General of the Grand Army of the Republic _and_ the secretive, masked leader of the Separatists known only as “Ben.” Ben has to take Anakin’s arm; this act hurts Obi-Wan more grievously than it hurts Anakin, but he was given no choice. Eventually, as all Sith inevitably do, Obi-Wan plans to turn on his Sith Master, thereby saving the galaxy from Sidious’s evil.

What he hasn’t counted on is Anakin, bright and uncorrupted, discovering the plot and challenging Darth Sidious for Obi-Wan’s soul.

Anakin fights Darth Sidious and wins…but at the cost of his own life.

“I saved you, Obi-Wan,” Anakin says, and dies.

Obi-Wan cradles the corpse of the man he loves – loved! – in his arms and weeps inconsolably. He has sacrificed so much of himself to keep Anakin close, and in the end, he’s still left with nothing. He can’t stand it.

He screams, grief and rage overflowing, distorting the Force with dark power. He wants to die too, alongside Anakin, but he’ll settle for the destruction of all life in the galaxy.

 

*

 

In his third life, they become lovers.

He waits until Anakin has been knighted, of course, but after that? Glorious, just glorious, and the trials and tribulations of the battlefield only serve to bring them closer.

Sometimes, their lovemaking is fast and frantic, and they frot against each other until their bodies are slick with sweat and semen. Other times, they take it slow and sweet, and Obi-Wan teases Anakin until he is begging to be taken, to be filled. Yet other times, Obi-Wan is the one who is penetrated, and each one of Anakin’s thrusts into Obi-Wan, so deep and strong and long, makes him gasp and sigh. Often, they are too tired for sex, so instead, they lay together, embracing, limbs intertwined, and they kiss and caress and exchange whispered endearments until the oblivion of sleep claims them.

It never occurs to Obi-Wan that Anakin could fall into darkness for the sake of love, not hate. In this life, Anakin falls for love of Obi-Wan. It was inevitable. By the time Obi-Wan realizes what is happening, it is far too late.

Then, Mustafar.

“I hate you!” Anakin roars.

“I loved you.”

Obi-Wan intends the words as an abject plea, but his plea falls on deaf ears. Love, as it turns out, is not enough to save them. It never was in the past. Why did he think this time would be any different? When Anakin raises his lightsaber and strikes to kill, it is he who dies instead.

On the hellscape shore of an orange lava river, standing over the charred remains of Anakin’s corpse, Obi-Wan wonders numbly if he will ever get living right.

 

*

 

In his fourth life, Obi-Wan lives a legend that has already been told. He isn’t happy in this life, either.

 

*

 

In his fifth and final life, he never goes to Tatooine.

When Queen Amidala escapes the Trade Federation blockade of Naboo, Obi-Wan ignores the star charts and does not suggest they go to Tatooine to get the ship’s hyperdrive repaired. Instead, they drift in space until they are recaptured and made political prisoners.

Qui-Gon never learns of Anakin. Obi-Wan resists temptation and does nothing to learn about the well-being or whereabouts of the man he loves, and Anakin stays hidden and safe from both sides.

Although the Jedi Order is successful in negotiating the release of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, Amidala is made an example of and executed. The galaxy is thrown into war, and Darth Sidious initiates his sinister plot to overthrow the Republic ten years earlier than he’d planned.

In this, he miscalculates. Working together, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan succeed in unmasking Palpatine as the secret Sith lord within the year, and while they attempt to take down Darth Maul, the entire Jedi High Council confronts Palpatine.

The losses the Jedi Order sustains are grievous. Half of the Council perishes at Sidious’s hand, and yet again, Obi-Wan cannot save Qui-Gon from being slain by Maul. But, in the end, the Sith are destroyed and the Republic is saved – this, Obi-Wan reckons, counts as a victory for the forces of good.

The Order’s smallest loss is Obi-Wan himself: he realizes he cannot go on. He surrenders his lightsaber and resigns his knighthood. He becomes the “Lost Twenty-First.” A sculpted bust of his head is placed in the Jedi Archives.

After that, he wanders the galaxy, unimportant and anonymous, for ten years. Most nights, he dreams of Anakin.

During a brief stopover on Malastare, he hears rumor of the feted arrival of the only human podracer and three-time Boonta Eve cup champion, and he can’t help himself – he needs to see this so-called “Sky Walker” with his own eyes.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan whispers. In this life, Anakin is more beautiful, and more perfect, than Obi-Wan could have imagined.

“Um, do I know you?” the Sky Walker asks, his tone challenging. He brims full of bravado. Clearly he doesn’t share his true name with just anyone!

“I don’t know. Do you?” Obi-Wan decides to challenge him back.

“I don’t…I…well, actually, funniest thing – I’d swear I’ve had dreams about you.”

For the rest of his living days, Obi-Wan is happy because he and Anakin are together. They will never be parted again:

_At last, at long, long last, everything is just right._


End file.
